Philadelphia-headquartered West Pharmaceutical Services on Wednesday inaugurated a plant at the Sri City Special Economic Zone in Andhra Pradesh, strengthening its manufacturing base in the Asia-Pacific region.

The company has invested $15 million (₹90 crore) over two years in the 1.64 lakh sq ft facility and aims to roll out 1.6 billion drug-packaging seals a year by 2018.

The expected demand for seals in the Asia-Pacific region will be 35 billion a year by that time, a growth rate of 7 percent.

“This investment is important to our strategy of partnering with our customers in India and the Asia-Pacific region,” Warwick Bedell, President, Asia-Pacific, West Pharma, told reporters at the launch on Wednesday.

In June 2012, the company had acquired 7.83 lakh sq ft land in the SEZ near Tada in Andhra Pradesh, about 75 km north of Chennai.

It plans to use up more area to manufacture elastomers, which are stretchable polymers.

The company’s 2013 annual report says it will evaluate prospects for an elastomer-making unit in India based on the demand situation this year.

India focus

West Pharma’s India clients include Sun Pharmaceuticals, Hospira and Dr Reddy’s Labs, which will now buy aluminium and plastic caps from the Sri City facility to stopper their injectible drugs.

The company had been importing its products into India from its two plants in China and Singapore.

But with the new factory, the nodal manufacturing base for injectible seals shifts to India, said Bedell.

The Sri City plant will import raw materials for the immediate future, but plans for domestic sourcing are on, Bedell added.

The company is evaluating suppliers in India. It sells its seals in the range of $10-30 for a pack of 1,000.

Bedell says India will play a major role as a market and a manufacturing base in the future.

The company has developed cartridges and vials to hold injectible insulin for diabetes treatment. Another offer is a device to assist patients to inject themselves with drugs in a safe manner.

This brand, SmartDose, will undergo large-scale clinical trails this year, says the company’s annual report.

The projected revenue for 2014 is $1.45-1.48 billion, 6-8 per cent rise on a consolidated basis over last year.

Ravi Sanna Reddy, Managing Director of Sri City, says about 35 companies have operationalised their facilities.

The management is planning two golf courses in the 7,000-acre economic zone.

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